
AKM Zamir Uddin
Senior Staff Reporter covering the economy and banking sector in Bangladesh for more than 12 years
Senior Staff Reporter covering the economy and banking sector in Bangladesh for more than 12 years
Bangladesh Bank yesterday granted Sri Lanka’s request to be given six more months to repay a $200 million loan due to the prolonging of its economic crisis.
The Bangladesh Bank yesterday decided in principle to allow Nagad Finance PLC, a proposed non-bank financial institution (NBFI), to run mobile financial services.
Bangladesh Bank today granted Sri Lanka six more months to repay the $200 million loan after the Island nation requested to extend the repayment period due to its prolonged economic crisis.
In a desperate attempt at collecting the greenback to meet immediate requirements, a good number of banks are ignoring directives of two lenders’ organisations to not offer over Tk 107 for each US dollar coming in as remittance.
Cash-strapped banks are borrowing from cash-rich lenders paying more than 9 per cent in interest rate, which is above a cap set by the central bank, as an unprecedented liquidity crunch has hit the banking sector of Bangladesh.
The government continues to borrow from Bangladesh Bank on a large scale as commercial banks are now unable to finance the state due to liquidity crunch.
Come January there won’t be any volatility in the foreign exchange market -- was the overarching message from the government in the past couple of months. January has arrived, and the situation is dicey as before.
Four more shariah-based banks have been found to have taken emergency funds, which are usually taken during extraordinary circumstances, in an attempt at dressing up their balance sheet for last year.
Islami Bank has started to avail a central bank facility that is only summoned during extraordinary circumstances, as the Shariah-based lender looked to dress up its balance sheet ahead of the year’s end.
Bangladesh Bank yesterday decided to dissolve the board of directors of the Uttara Finance and Investments over major financial irregularities involving Tk 5,100 crore it had unearthed two years ago.